Scholarship Boosted by Faculty Grants Through Fall 2025

Russian history scholar Page Herrlinger has secured funding for a foreign language teaching assistant (FLTA) on campus. For the second time in three years, the Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies (REES) department, of which Herrlinger is chair, is hosting a teaching fellow through the Fulbright FLTA program, which is sponsored by the US Department of State.

"Our current fellow is Zhanar Orazkeldiyeva, who holds a master's degree in educational leadership from Nazarbayev University in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan," explains Herrlinger, who is also the Frank A. Munsey Professor of History.

Since arriving on campus in September, Orazkeldiyeva has been leading weekly one-on-one Russian conversation practice sessions with Russian language students, as well as regularly participating in REES-sponsored campus events, she added.

"Students benefit from learning not only from a native Russian speaker but also an educator from Kazakhstan who is eager to share all about her country and culture-from geography and history to popular music, film, and food, all while enriching and diversifying the cultural competencies we teach in our courses."

Herrlinger said credit should also go to her department colleague, Senior Lecturer Reed Johnson, who, as well as helping with the application, is at "the heart of the program on a daily basis," working regularly with teaching fellow Orazkeldiyeva.